Items tagged with performance

For the past few years, Intel has promised that its various low-power Atom-based processors would usher in a wave of low-cost Android and Windows mobile products that could compete with ARM-based solutions from its major competitors. And for years, we've seen no more than a trickle of hardware, often with limited availability and/or questionable pricing. Now, that's finally beginning to change. Intel's Bay Trail and Merrifield SoCs are starting to show up in attractive, full-featured, sub-$200 devices, and we've got one of them on the test bench today, the Acer Iconia Tab 8, along with a competing...Read more...

We’re currently at the Intel Developers Forum checking out all of the technology being showcase by Intel and its partners. Just in case you’ve missed our coverage from earlier in the day amidst all of the Apple news, we’ve got video of Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich on stage demoing RealSense posted here, in addition to news regarding Intel’s new Android Development Platform for tablets, and the first ever live-demo of the company’s next-gen Skylake platform, next-year’s follow-up to Broadwell, running 3DMark. Intel Broadwell-Based, 12.5" Tablet As if...Read more...

We're not going to beat around the bush, here. BioShock Infinite is game-of-the-year material. The floating city of Columbia is one of the most evocative, intense, gorgeous environments I've ever seen -- but how much you like it may depend on what sort of visual wizardry you prefer. BioShock Infinite is built on Unreal Engine 3, and while it pushes that framework's capabilities into the stratosphere, there's a clear difference between BioShock Infinite and, say, Crysis 3. It's a testament to Ken Levine and the artistic team at Irrational Games that the gap feels like a stylistic choice rather than...Read more...

We're not going to beat around the bush, here. BioShock Infinite is game-of-the-year material. The floating city of Columbia is one of the most evocative, intense, gorgeous environments I've ever seen -- but how much you like it may depend on what sort of visual wizardry you prefer. BioShock Infinite is built on Unreal Engine 3, and while it pushes that framework's capabilities into the stratosphere, there's a clear difference between BioShock Infinite and, say, Crysis 3. It's a testament to Ken Levine and the artistic team at Irrational Games that the gap feels like a stylistic choice rather than...Read more...

If you've been itching for a game to showcase a new video card, or to rub in the faces of your friends, with their 2005-2006 Xbox 360s and PS3s, Far Cry 3 is that game. It eschews the space-gray corridors or military battlefields of other franchises for the lush tropical environments the Far Cry series is famous for, and the game absolutely shines. After years of cooling our heels as publishers delivered console titles for DirectX 9-era hardware, the game is a welcome breath of fresh air. We've put together a comprehensive look at the game, from performance benchmarks to how it plays and whether...Read more...

If you've been itching for a game to showcase a new video card, or to rub in the faces of your friends, with their 2005-2006 Xbox 360s and PS3s, Far Cry 3 is that game. It eschews the space-gray corridors or military battlefields of other franchises for the lush tropical environments the Far Cry series is famous for, and the game absolutely shines. After years of cooling our heels as publishers delivered console titles for DirectX 9-era hardware, the game is a welcome breath of fresh air. We've put together a comprehensive look at the game, from performance benchmarks to how it plays and whether...Read more...

In this latest episode of the HotHardware Video Podcast, Marco, Dave and Iyaz chat about AMD's upcoming low-power Zacate APU for netbooks and thin-and-light notebooks, NVIDIA's brand new flagship GeForce GTX 580 GPU, content blocking on GoogleTV from the major networks (and potential hacks and workarounds), and we also take a look back at hard drive performance over the last decade and a half to see how far things progressed over the years. We’re also still looking for entries in the “Name our Podcast” contest—check out the video for some discussion on a few of our current...Read more...

We first laid our hands on the Classified SR-2 at CES 2010 and were recently given the opportunity to take one for a spin around the lab. While preparing to test the board, however, a couple of important points led us in a somewhat different direction than a straight-up motherboard review. The EVGA Classified SR-2’s requirements are unlike any other desktop motherboard you’ve seen to date. And to meet those requirements meant reeling in some other exciting hardware in its own right. On the pages ahead, not only will we be checking out the EVGA Classified SR-2, but we’ll be showcasing...Read more...

Every once in a while a product comes along that really gets us worked into a frenzy. Typically, the latest and greatest processors and graphics cards generate a lot of buzz around here, but some other components aren’t always as enticing for one reason or another, like motherboards for example. Don’t get us wrong, we love a great enthusiast-class motherboard with a ton of features as much as the next guy, but the majority of them just don’t have the appeal of new CPU or GPU. There are exceptions, of course. Most recently, a number of Asus’ RoG, Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable,...Read more...

AMD is poised to release a new Catalyst drive package, v10.6, that incorporates a number of new features and performance enhancements. While there are a handful of game-specific performance enhancements, it's the new video-related features that are potentially the most interesting. Here is a breakdown of the new features available in the Catalyst 10.6 display driver release, snapped directly from the release notes: GPU acceleration of H.264 video content using Adobe Flash Player 10.1 AMD GPU acceleration of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 delivers smooth high definition video playback and reduces system...Read more...

Way back in November of 2007, AMD unveiled all of the components of the "Spider" platform, which consisted of a Phenom processor, 700-series chipset-based motherboard, and Radeon HD 3800 series graphics. A little over a year later, in January of 2009, AMD completed a refresh of their total platform and dubbed it "Dragon". Similarly, the Dragon platform consisted of an all-AMD processor, chipset, and GPU combo, but this time the Phenom II, a revamped 700-series chipset with a new southbridge, and Radeon HD 4800 series graphics were at the heart of the platform. Do you see a pattern forming,...Read more...

Way back in November of 2007, AMD unveiled all of the components of the "Spider" platform, which consisted of a Phenom processor, 700-series chipset-based motherboard, and Radeon HD 3800 series graphics. A little over a year later, in January of 2009, AMD completed a refresh of their total platform and dubbed it "Dragon". Similarly, the Dragon platform consisted of an all-AMD processor, chipset, and GPU combo, but this time the Phenom II, a revamped 700-series chipset with a new southbridge, and Radeon HD 4800 series graphics were at the heart of the platform. Do you see a pattern forming,...Read more...

Devil Mountain Software has been featured in IDG articles before, as a firm that offers performance testing based on its Exo Performance Network (XPNet). Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that one of IDG's writers, Randall Kennedy, is actually the CEO of Devil Mountain Software, although he made up an alter-ego to cover his tracks. While that's already a source of concern for those who want performance data that is valid, truthful, and uncompromised (like HH readers), there's a secondary concern: just how valid is DMS' data?This whole story is somewhat reminiscent of the scandal that...Read more...

AMD is launching a bevy of new processors today, targeted squarely at budget conscious consumers, looking to save a few bucks on the their next PC build. The new processors differ from previous offerings in their respective product families in terms of frequency, and of course their model names, but all are based on existing architectures and technology.The new line-up of processors AMD is introducing today consists of the following products... Phenom II X2 555 - $99 Athlon II X4 635 - $119 Athlon II X3 440 - $84 Athlon II X2 255 - $74 Phenom II X4...Read more...